On Sunday I decided to head up to Elgin for the Glen Moray marathon, the oldest marathon in Scotland, and according to Duncan (a local marathon veteran I met at the race) the finest marathon course in the world!
Having only run Edinburgh and Lochaber before I’m not really in a position to substantiate Duncan’s claim but it was certainly a fine but tough course that plays to the strengths of hill runners. The race is run on an undulating course to the South West of Elgin on quiet country roads with a total ascent of 370m according to my watch. Registration and the finish were at the Glen Moray distillery who also sponsor the race and provide the prizes.
Setting off at an optimistic sub 2.45 pace I unexpectedly found myself leading from the off. A headwind made the first few miles pretty tough going but hitting the first big climb at 12km still in the lead I decided that my best chance of winning would be to use my hill climbing strength to power up the climb and break any visual link that 2nd place may have had. The big push must have worked as I spent the rest of the race on my own with only the lead car for company. The scenic course did little to ease the torture of trying to maintain my pace and I struggled over the last 10km having nobody to race. In the end I actually managed a negative split by 20 seconds, however the tailwind and greater descent in the second half was probably more to thank rather than my brave but stupid marathon technique of ‘start fast and hope I can hang on at the end’.
My finishing time was 2:46:26, a pb by more than 9 minutes but more importantly my first ever win!
The feast provided after the race rivalled any hill race I have been to, with the added bonus of a dram, and as per any proper race the prizes were of the alcoholic variety. I won a very nice bottle of cask strength Glen Moray and engraved whisky glass for my efforts. Duncan also found me after the race and presented me with a bottle of wine with a label he had added saying “to the 2015 winner of the greatest marathon course in the world”, a very nice touch which I’m sure you would never get at a big city marathon!
For any Carnethies looking to run a marathon next year I can certainly recommend Glen Moray and there is even a 10k and half marathon if you fancy trying to win some whisky without the pain and torture of putting yourself through a full marathon.
John Hammond